


All In A Day's Work

by TeriH



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Gen, Magnificent Seven AU: ATF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 10:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18603070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeriH/pseuds/TeriH
Summary: Originally published in Magnificent Shorts #4 (Neon RainBow Press, 2010)Written for a Vin List Finish the Story Challenge





	All In A Day's Work

An explosion rocked the warehouse sending debris flying through the air, ripping and tearing at anything in its path. Vin Tanner and the man he was fighting were knocked from their feet by the impact of the blast. Vin quickly regained his footing in preparation for an attack that never came. His adversary now lay only feet away, sightless eyes staring at the ceiling. How had everything gone south so swiftly?

~~~~~~~

The assignment they had been working on was finally reaching completion. The date of the bust was set for the following evening and all that was left was to case the building. Chris, Ezra and Vin had gone to the warehouse to get a feel for the layout. Vin had been watching the area for the past few days and there appeared to be no activity at the warehouse itself so it was deemed safe for them to enter and find the best location for Vin and the others to be positioned. 

The three men dressed unobtrusively in dark t-shirts, jeans and work boots moved through the inner-city neighborhood easily blending in with other local workers. Ducking into a narrow alley the group cautiously approached the warehouse and slid silently through the side door. They waited a few moments allowing their eyes to adjust to the dim light filtering through the dust covered windows. 

The building contained random stacks of dusty crates reaching to the rafters. Vin moved without a sound through the large room, weaving between the towering stacks of forgotten goods, quickly assessing and rejecting locations from which to best protect his team. Meanwhile Chris and Ezra contemplated the most likely position for the upcoming exchange to take place and where to station the remainder of the team to best cover all angles.

Vin listened to the soft cadence of his teammate’s voices and prepared to join them when suddenly the hair on the back of his neck seemed to stand on end, something was wrong.

The door to a small office in the corner of the facility swung open and 4 men stepped out. “Well what have we got here?"

At the sound of the unfamiliar voice, Vin sunk back into the shadows.

I wouldn’t do that blondie." William Craegen commented as Chris reached for his service revolver. "Sparks, get his gun.” 

"Mr. Craegen , I think there must be some sort of misunderstanding. Wasn't our meet set for today?" Ezra said, with a conviction he didn’t feel, hoping Craegen would fall for the ruse. 

“Told ya not to trust this Simons fella, Boss,” Sparks spat with glee as he waved Chris’s confiscated gun in Ezra’s direction.

“I beg to differ. It was an honest blunder on my part. I was . . .”

Vin listened as Ezra’s explanation fell on deaf ears. Craegen ordered one of his goons to get the van and the man slipped out the side door. 

“Mr. Craegen, I must protest . . .” 

A knowing smile crossed Vin’s face as Ezra once again went into a long-winded explanation as to why he and Chris were at the warehouse. That’s it Ez, keep ‘em busy. Vin pulled his cell phone from his pocket and sent a quick text message to J.D. A predetermined code along with a request that he hoped J.D. would honor without question. sos cmb5 He then sat his phone on the edge of a crate and nimbly began to climb the stacked tower.

Using the noise created as the garage-style door opened at the back of the warehouse and a van was backed in, Vin moved with the grace of a cat over the top of the stacked crates. Coming to rest on the crate directly over Craegen and Sparks, he watched and waited as two goons carried cases from the small office to the waiting van.

Sweat beaded on Vin’s forehead and his muscles tensed as one of the men climbed into the drivers seat and started the vehicle. “Ready to go, Mr. Craegen.”

They were running out of time and he could only hope that J.D. had received his message.

“Sparks, you and Tiny take care of these two. We’ll meet up tonight,” Craegen directed, then turned to Chris and Ezra. “Gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure doing business,” 

“Craegen, wait,” Ezra tried one last time.

As Craegen headed for the van Tiny, who in Vin’s estimation was roughly the size of a barn, drove his fist into Ezra’s face causing Standish to fall to his knees and effectively silencing the undercover man.

Vin watched as Ezra struggled back onto his feet. Anytime now would be good, J.D.

♪♫ "I'm a little tea pot short and stout..." ♫♪

Sparks and Tiny were momentarily startled by the music coming from between the stack of crates a few feet away. Ezra took advantage of the diversion by delivering a snap kick to Tiny’s knee, causing the distracted man to stumble backward as Ezra continued to press his attack. At that same moment, Vin launched himself onto the unsuspecting Spears, causing the gun to fall from his hands and slide a few feet away. 

Even as he struggled with Spears, Vin was aware of Chris retrieving his gun and running toward the van which now moving toward the open garage door. 

“ATF,” Chris yelled as he planted his feet and fired the weapon at the departing van.

An explosion rocked the warehouse sending debris flying through the air, ripping and tearing at anything in its path. Vin Tanner and the man he was fighting were knocked from their feet by the impact of the blast. Vin quickly regained his footing in preparation for an attack that never came. His adversary now lay only feet away, sightless eyes staring at the ceiling. 

~~~~~~~

The sound of flesh hitting flesh jolted Vin back to the present. Turning he saw Ezra take a blow to face and stumble slightly before regaining his balance and delivering a roundhouse kick to the gorilla's face, causing the man’s head to snap back. 

Then he remembered . . . CHRIS!

Spinning around, Vin saw only the smoldering remains of what was once the van. Then a movement to the side caught his attention. He watched as Chris staggered to his feet, took a few steps then fell to his knees. Vin was torn between going to Chris’s side or remaining to help Ezra as sirens sounded in the distance. 

He watched as Ezra moved with the grace of a dancer delivering blow after blow, his adversary’s punches now missing more often than not. 

“Go,” Standish yelled, noticing Vin’s hesitation. 

Vin turned and moved to check on his boss and friend. 

Chris’s clothes hung in tatters exposing the multitude of cuts covering his torso. Vin approached his battered friend and knelt by his side. Looking for something to stanch the flow of blood Vin did the only thing he could. He quickly slipped out of the black t-shirt, folded it and pressed it to the cut in Chris's hair. "Looks like that might need a stitch, Nathan will know for sure. Can you hold this in place, Cowboy while I check you over and see just how bad you're hurt?" Vin reached down and pulled a knife from his boot, then quickly slit the material of Chris's pant leg baring the muscular thigh. The jagged tear marring the flesh was not as deep as it first appeared. Vin moved to other leg and began to slice open the seam.

A hand covered with small cuts and smeared with blood reached out and stopped the forward motion of the knife. "If you don't mind, Vin, I'd like to leave a little to the imagination."

A twinkle sparked in the sharpshooters eyes, "It's for your own good, Cowboy," and the soft rip of the material could be heard. 

"If you gentlemen would prefer some privacy. . ." 

Lesser men would have cowered at the deadly glare Larabee sent his direction. Ezra merely smirked, a hint of the gold tooth showing as he dropped exhausted by his two friends. 

"Your phone elected a most opportune time to ring, but I'm a little teapot?"

"Reckon I got J.D. to thank for that. Sent him a text message to let him know we had trouble and to call back in five minutes. Figure the others should be pulling in any time now." 

Chris just shook his head, “Remind me not to complain about J.D. messing with the phones. It was just the distraction we needed.” 

~~~~~~~

The screeching sound of rubber on asphalt announced the arrival of the remaining members of Team Seven. Buck, J.D., Josiah and Nathan rushed into the warehouse, guns drawn, descending like avenging angles until they spied their downed comrades. 

Holstering his weapon, Nathan rushed to the injured men’s. “J.D., get my bag from the car.” 

While Nathan checked on Chris’s injuries, Josiah went to check on an unconscious Tiny, who was handcuffed to an exposed pipe. 

Buck turned in a slow circle noting the remains of van, the obvious struggle that had occurred along with the state of his three friends, and gave a low whistle. “You look like you’ve been rode hard and put away wet.”

“All in a day’s work, Mr. Wilmington,” Ezra commented as he rose shakily to his feet followed by Vin.

Nathan finally deemed Chris healthy enough to move and the group headed for the door and Larabee’s ranch, having been relieved of clean-up duty by the local authorities. 

Their progress was stopped as the melody “Hail to the Chief” echoed through the warehouse. They turned as one to stare at a cell phone lying on the floor a short distance away, and then at J.D. who at least had the decency to look chagrined.

“Reckon that’s for you, Cowboy.”


End file.
